Mason and DixonB-17G-15-BO 42-31412

100th Bomb Group, 351st Bomb Squadron

This was a long-serving Fort which was named after two 100BG officers -- pilot Floyd Mason and navigator William Dishion. The racy semi-nude painted by Stevens made clever use of the scripted titling to avoid censorship by higher authorities. The plane was severely damaged while on a shuttle mission from England to Russia to Italy in September 1944. A flak shell sliced through the wing and narrowly missed a fuel tank. Name-sake Capt Mason had been shot down in another aircraft in late July 1944 but "Mason and Dixon" returned to fly many more combat missions well into 1945.